Patapsco, 12-1-13

[HJS]

I fished the Patapsco on Sunday, 12-1-13, 12:30pm-4:00pm, launching at HH. I worked my butt off trying to catch 4 stripers: one 19.5” and three in the 16”-17” range. Considering the scarcity of any type of marks on the FF the entire afternoon I feel lucky to have caught any fish at all.

The most surprising observation was a complete absence of any bait fish near the WWD. A month ago the plume of the WWD was so loaded with baitfish that my FF kept showing false depth readings. Dunno what happened with them. Other year’s baitfish would be stacked up there by now and would stay there all winter long. This absence of bait is all a mystery to me. I hope they come back real soon otherwise it’s going to be a long cold winter with no where to go that’s worth fishing.

Patapsco, 12-1-13 A.jpgPatapsco, 12-1-13 B.jpgPatapsco, 12-1-13 C.jpg

[DanMarino]

Nice going Howard.
Might I ask how heavy of a jig head you typically use out there?

[HJS]

Nice going Howard.
Might I ask how heavy of a jig head you typically use out there?

All fish I caught yesterday were caught on the lure pictured with the fish. I was using it almost exclusively the entire afternoon: .75oz head with a 5" paddletail, chart/silver glit.

[Shady]

Well atleast you caught some good-looking clean fish! WWD Striper aren't the only cold water game. Pickerel fishing is getting better, I had a pretty good outing on the Severn yesterday afternoon biggest one at 23"

[HJS]

Ryan - Sounds like the Severn was producing for you. Did any of the side creeks have any skim ice? I was torn between Patapsco stripers and Magothy pickerel on Sunday... stripers won out. Plus I was concerned that the only side creek on the Magothy I have access to may have had some skim ice. Seems it doesn't take much chilly weather for it to skim over. Also, right now the Magothy is going into a mid-day low tide cycle, and I prefer fishing during higher tides. All of next week tides are looking pretty good for the Magothy. I'll probably hit it then.

[Shady]

A good portion of the creek I fished was iced over including one of my favorite spots. Hopefully, this warmer week will take care of that problem

[J.A. Veil]

First of all, nice fish Howard. Most anglers are struggling to find rockfish, and you got 4.

A good portion of the creek I fished was iced over including one of my favorite spots. Hopefully, this warmer week will take care of that problem

I fished two Severn tributaries this morning, including one that Shady fished recently. I worked 2.5 hours to catch just three pickerel. But two of them were large -- 22" and 23". I saw no ice in the first trib, and a very small patch of thin, mostly melted ice in the second. In that same creek, one of the areas where I expected to find fish had lots of leaves on the water making casting and retrieving pretty frustrating. The pickerel are not sitting in 1-2 ft water depth like they usually do this time of year. They moved deeper to the 3-6 ft depth. That really cold weather last week may have moved their prey deeper and they followed.

The 23" fish was covered with red marks and did not look particularly healthy.

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[Memory Maker]

Catching up here with the water temps in the 40s is definitely a feat ....... Congrats

[DanMarino]

John that is a gross looking pickerel....

[zimm]

Nice going Howard
I spent today (Mon 12/2 Noon to 3:15 PM) trolling out to the point and drifted jigged half way back
lots of marks in 40 ft of water and if I'm to believe my old Eagle DF some were good sized .
Lots of suspended fish in the channel in front of the launch that just weren't interested in a lure on the slack tide. At the bridge the water color changed noticeably otherwise I had 4+' of visibility.
I didn't venture back to the discharge although the plant ran most of the afternoon.